The National Fabric (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781845201869)

British fashion is characterized by oppositions: punk versus pageantry, anarchy versus monarchy, Cool Britannia versus Rule Britannia. Why has British fashion come to be so contradictory? How are these contradictions employed to 'sell British'? What do they mean for consumers who 'buy British'? Through an examination of iconic fashion companies Paul Smith and Mulberry, The National Fabric provides telling insights into the culture of contemporary fashion and the dilemmas of 'going global'. Goodrum argues that 'Britishness' is characterized less through a particular look than through its ambiguities. She shows how the apparently straightforward and economically-driven process of globalizing British fashion is, in fact, far more culturally nuanced and locally embedded than has previously been suggested. In examining the interplay between fashion and Britishness, Goodrum redresses a longstanding omission in fashion theory, which has been preoccupied with class, gender and race rather than with national identity.

Author: Alison Goodrum
ISBN-10: 1845201868
ISBN-13: 9781845201869
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Language: English
Published: 12/01/2005
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.34lbs
Size: 9.61h x 6.69w x 0.63d